Penn State's football was given severe punishment for the school's handling of the sex abuse scandal involving former football assistant Jerry Sandusky.

NCAA President Mark Emmert made the announcement Monday morning that the program would be hit a four-year postseason ban and a $60 million fine.

In addition, the school will be forced to cut 10 scholarships for this season and 20 scholarships for the following four years.

The move essentially bumps Penn State down to the scholarship levels of schools at the lower Football Championship Subdivision.

The school will be forced to vacate all wins from 1998-2011, a total of 112 victories, and serve five years of probation.

Because of the length of the punishment, all current Penn State players and incoming freshman will be free to transfer to another school without penalty.

COLUMN: Lopresti: Death penalty too much for Penn State The totality of the sanctions will have a drastic impact on the school's ability to compete in football the rest of the decade.

The NCAA ruling represented a seminal moment for Emmert, the former University of Washington president whose 20-month tenure has coincided with an unpredictable and turbulent time in college sports.

The spate of high-profile scandals that came to light under Emmert's watch, including one involving alleged widespread booster payments at Miami, took a backseat when Sandusky was arrested Nov. 5. The graphic nature of what then were allegations of sexual abuse against children repulsed the public and soured the sporting mood when LSU played Alabama on the most anticipated Saturday of the sport's regular season.

Immediate focus centered on Paterno: How much did he know and when did he know it? Did his inaction enable a sexual predator to continue to prey on children, most from troubled homes?

Paterno was soon fired, famously by telephone, because of what Penn State officials deemed a lack of leadership exhibited after former graduate assistant Mike McQueary told Paterno in 2001 that he had witnessed Sandusky sexually abuse a child of roughly 10 years of age in the Penn State locker room showers.

When Paterno was ousted, more than 1,000 Penn State students flooded the campus streets, some chanting, "Hell, no, Joe won't go!"

University president Graham Spanier was fired. Two other administrators, athletic director Tim Curley, who remains on leave, and now-retired vice president Gary Schultz, continue to await trial on charges of failing to report child abuse and lying to a grand jury. Both have maintained their innocence.

Throughout the winter, the scandal continued to deepen as Paterno's legacy unraveled. When Paterno spoke with The Washington Post's Sally Jenkins in January --- what would be his final interview -- he appeared a weakened man, speaking with a rasp and battling lung cancer. Paterno told The Post that he did not know what to do when McQueary informed him of what McQueary saw in part "because I never heard of, of, rape and a man."

Three days later, Paterno was dead, his legacy clouded, if not forever stained.

In Bellefonte, Pa., last month, a jury of seven women and five men, including nine with ties to the university, found Sandusky guilty on 45 of 48 counts. He was convicted of sexually assaulting 10 boys over 15 years and faces life in prison.

The release of Freeh's report this month added a punctuation mark to the scandal and provided clarity to the tarnished legacy of major college football's all-time winningest coach. One page after another, all part of a nearly eight-month investigation that drew upon more than 400 interviews and 3 million documents, exposed Paterno as one of the senior university leaders who for years concealed information that could have stopped Sandusky from abusing more children.

Among the most alarming findings was that Paterno had been aware of a 1998 investigation of allegations that Sandusky abused a boy in Penn State's locker room showers. Paterno followed the case closely - Sandusky was not prosecuted --- but did not take action or alert the board of trustees. (The Paterno family had recently maintained that Paterno was not aware of the 1998 investigation at the time.)

Three years later, the Freeh report suggests, Paterno dissuaded Curley from having Penn State's administration report to authorities the allegations made by McQueary. And the report concluded that senior school officials did not demonstrate concern for the safety or well being of Sandusky's victims until after Sandusky's arrest.

The nearly 300-page report also added fuel to the debate over whether Penn State or the NCAA should shut down the Nittany Lions' football program for at least one season and whether the university should remove the bronze Paterno statue outside Beaver Stadium, which it did on Sunday morning.

The NCAA has imposed the so-called death penalty on a major college football team just once. And it has taken SMU more than two decades to recover after it was shut down in the late 1980s following a scandal that involved, among other violations, widespread booster payments to players.

But with Penn State's case, the NCAA confronted a scandal unlike any the association had ever seen. The wrongdoing, while egregious, did not reflect traditional violations of NCAA bylaws. And no obvious competitive advantage was gained by the cover-up of criminal activity.

Former NCAA investigators and infractions committee chairmen argued that the NCAA should leave the Penn State scandal for the criminal and civil courts. But Emmert, who recently said in a PBS interview that the death penalty remained on the table, felt compelled to punish Penn State with sanctions that would severely impact its football program for years.

And with the backing of the NCAA's executive committee and the Division I board of directors, Emmert bypassed usual investigation protocol and levied an array of penalties that will long be studied and debated in the college sports world.

Paterno's 409 wins and two national titles remain intact, but his statue is gone, his reputation is irreparably scarred and the program he built during a 61-year career, 46 as head coach, is left to deal with harsh NCAA sanctions and the pending rulings of ongoing investigations.

With the NCAA verdict handed down, Penn State still could face further punitive measures. The Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Education are conducting investigations into the school's actions in relation to the scandal.

Penn State University president Rodney Erickson, complete statement: (From the Associated Press)

"The tragedy of child sexual abuse that occurred at our University altered the lives of innocent children. Today, as every day, our thoughts and prayers continue to be with the victims of Mr. Sandusky and all other victims of child abuse.

"Against this backdrop, Penn State accepts the penalties and corrective actions announced today by the NCAA. With today's announcement and the action it requires of us, the University takes a significant step forward.

"The NCAA ruling holds the University accountable for the failure of those in power to protect children and insists that all areas of the University community are held to the same high standards of honesty and integrity.

"The NCAA also mandates that Penn State become a national leader to help victims of child sexual assault and to promote awareness across our nation. Specifically, the University will pay $12 million a year for the next five years into a special endowment created to fund programs for the detection, prevention and treatment of child abuse. This total of $60 million can never reduce the pain suffered by victims, but will help provide them hope and healing.

"The NCAA penalty will also affect the football program. There is a four-year ban on all post-season games, including bowl games and the Big Ten Championship game, and a future reduction in the number of football scholarships that can be granted. We are grateful that the current student athletes are not prevented from participation because of the failures of leadership that occurred. Additionally the NCAA has vacated all wins of Penn State football from 1998-2011.

"We also welcome the Athletics Integrity Agreement and the third-party monitor, who will be drilling into compliance and culture issues in intercollegiate athletics, in conjunction with the recommendations of the Freeh Report. Lastly a probationary period of five years will be imposed.

"It is important to know we are entering a new chapter at Penn State and making necessary changes. We must create a culture in which people are not afraid to speak up, management is not compartmentalized, all are expected to demonstrate the highest ethical standards, and the operating philosophy is open, collegial, and collaborative.

"Since receiving Judge Freeh's preliminary recommendations in January, the University has instituted several reforms. Today we accept the terms of the consent decree imposed by the NCAA. As Penn State embarks upon change and progress, this announcement helps to further define our course. It is with this compass that we will strive for a better tomorrow.

"Penn State will move forward with a renewed sense of commitment to excellence and integrity in all aspects of our University. We continue to recognize the important role that intercollegiate athletics provides for our student athletes and the wider University community as we strive to appropriately balance academic and athletic accomplishments. Penn State will continue to be a world-class educational institution of which our students, faculty, staff and alumni can be justifiably proud."